Marvel Unveils 'Adaptive Audio' Digital Comics You Can Listen To

At SXSW, the publisher debuts new technology that adds a soundtrack to your superheroes.

It’s easy to publish a comic book that people can "look at" or "read" -- but at the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas, this weekend, Marvel Entertainment unveiled comics that you can listen to.

Adding background music and sound effects to the digital reading experience in Marvel's subscription-based digital Marvel Unlimited reader, the new "adaptive audio" function offers fans the chance to "experience comics like never before," according to a promotional video created to demonstrate the technology. (Watch the video below).

"It really is truly another storytelling device as opposed to just being some music that plays in the background," explained Marvel's vice president of digital products Kristin Vincent. "We worked very closely with composer David Ari Leon and his company SoundMind Music. He worked close with people as high up as [Marvel CCO] Joe Quesada, trying to map out the pacing of these stories, the pivotal moments in scenes and how certain characters get associated with specific sounds."

The first series to feature adaptive audio is Ed Brubaker's Captain America, with the six issues that constitute the current "Winter Soldier" collection -- the basis for next month's Captain America: The Winter Soldier movie -- available with audio on Marvel Unlimited.